Locutus of Borg: Janeway's POV
by Katty008
Summary: Oneshot. What if, instead of being rescued, Picard had become a full Borg in the Delta Quadrant? And what if Janeway recognized him for who he was and rescued him? Angst, that's what.


**Disclaimer: Don't own.**

**Now I haven't actually seen the Borg episodes for VOY or TNG, but I have read summaries. Hence, any complaints about breaking canon will be summarily ignored due to my ignorance, though I do take a few known liberties.**

**This is basically what might have happened if, instead of Picard getting rescued and the Borg cube blowing up, Picard had stayed on the Borg cube and the cube had hightailed it out of there. This is from Janeway's POV directly before they get back to Earth. There's a companion oneshot in the TNG section from Riker's point of view the day after they get back by the same name.**

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I was walking down that passageway pretending to be Borg when I first saw him. I was so tempted to shout out, _Look at me! What happened to Earth! I'll rescue you! _But I didn't because I knew that it would jeopardize the mission. I knew that if I shouted out to him the Queen would notice, and take me, and kill me and the others. So I didn't.

But when the time came, I ran back to that passageway. I ran as fast as I could, not caring who saw me, barreling through anyone who tried to stop me. It didn't occur to me once that he might not be there, that he might be on the other side of the cube entirely. It just didn't occur. But that didn't matter, because he _was_ there, and this time I _did_ shout out, I shouted out to him, _Wait! Stop! Let me help you!_ He looked at me confusedly. I grabbed on to him, holding him, yelling out, _Two to beam out!_ He fought, but I held on. He fought back harder and I held on harder. It seemed like an eternity that I was struggling to hold on to him, but in reality only several seconds.

We both fell to the floor when we materialized in the Transporter Room. He was still struggling. We were never going to get him to Sickbay this way. _Site-to-site transport to Sickbay!_ We rematerialized there, and the Doctor quickly sedated him. Tom Paris was standing by to help remove the implants, but he froze upon seeing the sedated Borg, mouthing out what we all knew but feared to say, _Captain Picard, Captain Jean-Luc Picard, what could possibly have happened for you to end up here like this?_

The Doctor and Paris took the implants out of Tuvok, Torres, and I first, then started on Picard. They took it slowly, one step at a time. They took about half of them out then stopped because they didn't want to overdo it. It was about then that Seven came in to see how we were doing. She was talking to me about things I can't remember when she stopped, passed me, and stood by his bed. She looked up at me. _I was unaware that this was a rescue mission Captain._

I explained to her who he was, his importance on Earth, how I hoped he would be able to tell us how he came to be this way, how he came to be Borg. Seven shook her head when I came to that point. _He will not be able to tell you. This Jean-Luc Picard you speak of is no more. This man is Locutus of Borg and will refuse to answer to anything else._ Seven told me about how he was appointed Speaker of the Humans, how he was the one who told Humans that resistance was futile, that they would be assimilated. How, after the Borg Queen discovered his fake heart, she exploited it and experimented on his body, how she developed a fondness for him and erased his memories in the unlikely event he should be unassimilated. How she took a sample of his DNA, and a sample of her DNA, and, and… I daren't go farther with that sentence.

It was then that the Doctor approached me and confirmed what Seven had said, how most of his inner organs had been replaced by machines, how there were implants in him just for the sake of making it impossible to take out other implants. How he was permanently Borg, never to be Human again.

I refused to believe it. When he woke up, I was there, waiting for the slightest sign of the Jean-Luc Picard I knew. He opened his eyes, looked around, turned his head to the left and right. He sat up as if his waist was a hinge and looked around even more. He focused on the Doctor with his furrowed brow, he focused on Paris looking slightly scared, he focused on Seven with her air of superiority, and finally he focused on me with my eyes hopeful. Our eye contact did not break for several silent seconds, and I whispered something, I whispered his name, _Jean-Luc._ Then finally he spoke, and my hopes were dashed to pieces on the cliff below, never to be heard from again. _I am not Jean-Luc. Others have made that mistake. I am Locutus of Borg. Where am I?_

And now I sit here on the Bridge, watching as we travel with the armada, waiting for Earth to come into view, and glancing at the Borg at my helm. Seven was right. Jean-Luc Picard is dead. He is Locutus now. My ship and crew have accepted that. But can the rest of the world do the same?

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**Reviews please!**


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